TOW a long time after Part 3
by Daniela
Summary: A continuation of Tow a long time after Part 2. It's a C & M fanfic.


The One With A Long Time After   
Part 3  
  
  
Chapter 7:  
Going To The Store  
  
Rachel woke up early that morning not quite knowing where she was. As she started getting out of bed she could see Ross lying on the floor. She chuckled a little. He always complained that she was kicking him in her sleep but this time he had gone over the top. After looking at him for a while she decided to let him sleep. Instead she went down stairs to find Phoebe sitting at the kitchen table looking worried.   
"Good morning Phoebs" Rachel said as she opened the refrigerator to look for something to eat but nothing in there met her tongue.   
Sighing she closed it and sat down next to Phoebe. First then she noticed the expression on her friends face.   
"What's wrong?"   
Phoebe looked at her.   
"Chandler and Monica didn't come home last night"   
Rachel gasped.   
"Oh my... are you sure?"   
Phoebe nodded.   
"I checked the whole house, they're nowhere to be found"   
"What could have happened to them?"   
Phoebe just shrugged. Suddenly the door opened and Chandler and Monica entered. Phoebe and Rachel just stared at them.   
"What?" Chandler wondered as he saw them looking a him.   
Rachel got up.   
"Where the hell have you two been!?"   
"Well first we climbed up to a mountain, this maniac forced me down on a ledge and then we fell asleep watching the sunset" Monica explained and gave Chandler a both angry and lovingly glare.   
Chandler rolled his eyes.   
"I didn't force you"   
"No technically you black mailed me"   
Chandler was just about to reply when Rachel cut in.   
"Chandler do you know that you've got nothing to eat here"   
Chandler walked up to the refrigerator.   
"What are you talking about, there's plenty to eat"   
He opened the refrigerator.   
"See, you could eat this... pear"   
Rachel looked at it in disgust.   
"That's a shriveled melon"   
Chandler looked at the melon then he quickly closed the refrigerator.   
"Then someone will have to go shopping"   
The girls all look at him.   
"What? Me?! Not gonna happen"   
"But we're your guests, you live here"   
Chandler shook his head.   
"No, no, no! I'm gonna go sleep"   
As he headed up the stairs Rachel remembered something.   
"Don't mind Ross sleeping in the corner"   
Chandler turned around and looked at her for a bit.   
"I'm not even gonna ask you what he's doing there"   
With that he continiued walking up the stairs.   
The girls all sat down at the table.   
"So what really happened?" Rachel wondered and looked at Monica quoriously. "What do you mean?"   
Phoebe smiled.   
"Come on Monica, it's us!"   
Monica sighed.   
"Really guys nothing happened. We almost kissed"   
Phoebe and Rachel gasped.   
"But we didn't!" Monica filled in and rolled her eyes.   
"Why not?" Rachel wondered.   
"He snapped out of it, I guess" Monica said. "Do you guys want anything to eat? I'm starving"   
Suddenly they heard a loud sceam from the second floor.   
In the next minute Ross came down the stairs covering his mouth, he spotted Rachel.   
"What are you doing here!?" he yelled.   
Rachel looked confused.   
"I went down to get some breakfast"   
At that moment Chandler came down the stairs as well.   
"What the hell were you doing!? I had just fallen asleep!"   
"How was I supposed to know that you were back!?" Ross said.   
The girls just looked at them. Monica shook her head.   
"I don't want to know. Do you guys want something to eat?"  
Everyone except Chandler nodded.   
"Nah, I think I'll just try to get some sleep" he looked at Ross "Without any interruption"   
"Then you might want us to take Joey along as well" Rachel said.   
Chandler just went up the stairs and they heard Joey coming down the stairs stur awake.   
"Hi guys" he said sleepy. "Chandler just woke me up and mumbled something about sleep and breakfast. Are we eating?"   
"Yeah but first we've got to go to the store because there's nothing eatable in this house"   
Joey looked at her.   
"I don't know about that, I found some pears last night, they were really good" he grinned and the others just looked at him.   
  
*****************  
  
It took them a while to find there way to the supermarket but at last they had found it. Monica was standing looking at fruit when she felt like she was being watched. She quickly looked up but there was nobody there. She shook of the feeling and continiued on to the coffee shell. Once again she felt like she was being watched but when she looked up no one was there. It was beginning to get very uncomfertable. She went to look up Rachel, she found her in the dairy section.   
"Hey" she said and Rachel turned around. "Have you found anything eatable yet?"   
Rachel nodded and but down a karton of youghurt in the bascet Monica was carrying.   
"That's it?" Monica wondered and looked at the karton.   
Rachel shrugged.   
"That's all I like to eat these days"   
Monica nodded understanding.   
"I know what you mean, when I was pregnant I..." she suddenly stopped.   
Rachel looked symphatetically at her.   
"I'm sorry honey"   
"It's not that, look!" Monica pointed at something and Rachel gasped but then started giggling uncontrollably.   
Joey was making his way towards them with his arms full of groceries.   
"Mon, where's the bascet I can't see anything!"   
Monica sighed.   
"Joey, we're having breakfast, we're not going camping for a week"   
"I know" Joey said and dumped the things in the bascet.   
As they waited in line to pay Phoebe noticed something.   
"Do you guys also get the feeling that you're being watched?"   
Monica nodded.   
"Yes! But I don't know by who"   
Phoebe looked around.   
"Well it's pretty much by everyone"   
"Why?" Monica wondered worriedly. "Is it my hair, are my clothes really that dirty?"   
Rachel inspected her.   
"No you look like you always do, except your clothes now have ryncles"   
Monica made a face at her. Now they were up in fromt and Monica started putting the groceries on the rolling band.   
"That'll be eight dollars, mam" the cashier said and looked at Monica. "Haven't I seen you before?"   
Monica looked at him.   
"I don't think so" she said as she handed the cashier her money.   
"No I'm sure of it" he thought for a while "Oh now I know, you were that girl on the ledge of the mountain"   
Now Monica recognised his voice.   
"How did you and your boyfriend get down from there so quickly?"   
Monica noticed the others staring at her.   
"I thought you were there with Chandler" Ross said and looked suspicious.   
"I was" Monica said and turned to the cashier.   
"He's not my boyfriend, we're just friends"   
"Were you 'just friends' when you kissed?"   
Monica got annoyed she didn't really see why this was any of his buisness.   
"You kissed him!?" Ross wasn't even aware that he was screaming until the whole store was looking at him.   
"No I didn't kiss him" Monica said and looked at the cashier. "We're gonna go now" she hurried out of the door with the others following her. "Can you believe that person?! He was so incrediebly rude! How was that any of his buisness? Is that why people were looking at me?"   
Ross wasn't really paying attention.   
"How could you kiss him!?"   
Monica turned to Ross.   
"Relax, we didn't kiss"   
"Then why would he say that?" Ross wondered and looked intensly at Monica. Monica shrugged.   
"I don't know" with that she let the subject drop.   
As they walked up the drive way to Chandler's house Monica stopped.   
"Can you guys hear that?" she wondered.   
"Hear what?"   
"Shhh!!"   
They all stood there and listened for a while.   
"Sounds like he's listening to the radio" Phoebe thought as they went in.   
But when they got in the house the music got louder.   
"It's not the radio" Monica proclaimed. "It's coming from the livingroom"   
They quietly went in and found Chandler playing the piano.   
Suddenly he noticed them and stopped.   
"Hi guys, I didn't hear you come in" he said as he rose from his seat.   
The others just stared at him.   
"What?"   
"I had no idea you could play the piano" Phoebe said stunned.   
"Actually this is the only song that I can play" Chandler said and looked embarrest.   
"So? You're really good!" Rachel said.   
"How did you learn to play?" Ross wondered.   
"I learnt it when I met..." he stopped and looked down. "I learnt it a few years ago"   
The others looked at him symphatetically.   
"So... how did it go at the store?" Chandler wondered trying to change the subject.   
The others turned to Monica waiting for her to tell him what happened.   
"It... went well" Monica said and looked at the others as if to say that it did.   
The others slowly nodded and Chandler looked a thad confused.   
"Ok... so what did you get?" he wondered.   
With that que Joey went into a deep conversation about all the food they bought. Chandler shook his head in playfull agony.   
"I never should've asked!"  
  
  
Chapter 8:  
The Insomnias  
  
As evening sat in the others decided to stay for another night, partly to catch up on the years that had past and partly because Rachel didn't feel up for the long ride home. Now they were sitting in the livingroom talking about everything that had happened since they last had seen eachother. Chandler noticed that everyone was careful not to go into his marriage with Julia. At first he was relieved but then he realized that if he was to talk about what he had been up to, he had to mention Julia. She had been his wife, the most important person to him in the world. Althought he knew that the others didn't want to make him think about her for his own good, he became slightly annoyed.   
As if it was that simple to get her out of his mind, just because no one talked about her. If that had worked he would've tried it a long time ago. Not really knowing what to say he just sat there pretending to be listening to the others storeies but really waiting for them all to go to bed so that he could think in private.  
  
*****************  
  
Monica noticed that Chandler seemed absent and wondered why. She wasn't really paying attention to Phoebe's story about her new job, she had already heard it millions of times. Instead she kept looking at Chandler from the corner of her eye, trying to figure him out. He had changed so much from the 'good old days' when he had lived next door from her. As she thought about it she came to think about an old song, "Living next door to Alice" by Smookie.   
It stuck to her mind and she played the chorus to herself over and over again. The song reminded her of how upset, sad and angry she had been when Chandler had told them about him leaving for Staten Island. She had gotten used to having him around, asking stupid questions, making sarcastic remarks or just comforting her whenever she was worried about something. Until recently she hadn't realized how much she had missed that. Or him. He had always known how to make her feel better, whatever the problem was.   
If it was his own troubled life or just his strong compassion she couldn't figure out. But whatever it was it had worked and she had soon forgotten what had made her so sad. She sneaked a peak at him again. She could see it in his eyes that he was thinking about Julia. She also noticed that everyone was careful not to talk about his late wife.   
Now she began to wonder if that really had been the best idea, she knew how hard it was to keep something like this to yourself. But it was just as hard to open up to someone as well. The only person she had trusted with her feelings had been Chandler, she wondered if he had any idea of how many times he been there for her, and if he even knew how much talking to him had helped her. She hoped so.  
  
*****************  
  
Ross had fallen fast asleep that night but Rachel wasn't that tired. It could have something to do with the daily naps she took sometimes. Bored she looked up at the cealing and tried to think of something to pass time with. She couldn't think of anything so instead she replayed the day that had past. She too had noticed that everyone had been trying their hardest to not make Chandler think about Julia, althought she could tell that he was. She could see it in his eyes. Rachel felt so sorry for him but she had no idea how she was supposed to show it. Or even if she was supposed to show it. Althought she had never met Julia she could feel that she had changed Chandler.   
He, who usually would crack a joke within five minutes tops, had been down to earth, withdrawn and quiet. He wasn't the childish person he had been last time she saw him, he had grown up, matured to a level she hadn't thought it would be possible for him to reach. She also noticed how overprotective Monica had become over him. At first Rachel thought it was just because he was still greefing Julia, but when she saw the two of them together she could see that there was more to their friendship than either one of them were willing to admit.  
They had some sort of connection, a quiet bond that had been impossible to break through. It was as strong as it had been when she had first met them. She had to admit that sometimes she had been a little jealous of Chandler. Monica shared all of her secrets and thoughts with him, not her. In a way she could understand her, she knew she wasn't the best at keeping secrets but she was determand to keep this one.   
The one about Monica's feelings for Chandler, which from what she had seen, didn't go unanswerd. But she had noticed something else too, Chandler was still wearing his wedding ring, she wondered why.  
  
*****************  
  
Chandler was sitting in his attic trying to figure out why his thoughts were so abstract but he couldn't make any sence of it. Sighing he leaned his head against an old table. Rachel and Ross had taken his room again. At first he was going to protest but after all, he had the only double bed in the house and Rachel and Ross were married. Plus he wanted Rachel to be comfertable. Phoebe and Monica had taken the guestroom and Joey had fallen asleep on the couch so Chandler hadn't had much of a choice. He looked around the attic, he hadn't been up here in ages. After Julia died he had brought up almost all of her things here.   
He had never felt up to look at them but now he knew he had to. He slowly rose to his feat and started to go through some things he had stuffed down in a coffin. It contained more homevideos, pictures and also Julia's journal.   
She always loved to know what she had been doing on a particular day and sometimes she drew sketches to better make her remember. She had always used to say that 'the past is behind you, but you don't have to forget it just because it isn't relevant anymore'.   
Or on some days when they hadn't really done anything she had just written down an old wise saying, or something that she thought was wise. Chandler had never understood why she had gone through so much trouble just to remember what day it was but in a way he thought it was sweet.   
It was just one of those things that made her Julia. She had always loved to sketch and paint. She had been very artistic and had loved to capture a moment before it dissapeared. As he looked through the rest of the coffen he found four of her sketching pads, he took them and the journal, sat down on a chair and started to look through them. In the firts two pads there were mostly sketches of their house and the ocean but in the third there was a very detailed, life-like sketch of himself. He had never seen that picture before and it struck him just how good of a drawer Julia had been. Not feeling like looking through the fourth sketch pad he opened the journal instead. It was filled with drawings as well but also Julia's innest, most deepest thougths. At first he felt bad about reading it but his curiousness took over and he started to read.   
  
*****************  
  
Chandler and Rachel weren't the only ones who couldn't sleep. Monica was having that same problem herself. Whenever she closed her eyes she would re-live the kiss that almost happened when she and Chandler had gotten of the mountain and the rude cashier that had completely nailed her. She didn't know why but that person gave her the shills. And when she kept her eyes open she would hear the song that Chandler had played earlier; the theme song from "The Piano" one of her own personal favorite movies. She remembered that Chandler once told her that he had used that movie as a pickup line on a girl in a video store. It hadn't worked but it was a cute story, almost as cute as him, she thought and smiled to herself but stopped when she realized what she was doing. She couldn't let her head go like that. He wasn't over Julia yet and Monica knew she couldn't compete with a dead person, she didn't even want to try. She knew that he wasn't ready to date, he hadn't even taken off his wedding ring yet, and she didn't want to pressure him, she sniffled a laugh.   
Now she had the exact opposite problem that she had had a few weeks before Chandler had left. It was the time that they were all up in Phoebe's mothers cabin and he wouldn't stop bugging her about how he was 'boyfriend material'. She sighed and put her pillow over her head, why hadn't she said yes when she had the change?  
  
  
Chapter 9:  
The Gossip That Travels  
  
In the morning everyone went home, Monica too. Even if she wanted to stay she knew she couldn't. Everyone would wonder why and she didn't really feel like telling anyone the reason. Besides she really wanted to get into her own clothes, she almost felt like and intrudor when she put on Julia's clothes.   
The first thing she did when she got home was to write in her diary.   
After her misscarrige she had gone to a psychiatrist to get help her getting over the loss. None of what the psychiatrist had told her had really worked except this. She wrote in her diary about her most personal thoughts and feelings as a way of helping her deal with it. Recently her writing had been pretty flat, just what had happened during the day and how she felt about Rachel being pregnant. But now she actually had something to write about. Chandler. She tried to get all of her thoughts out on paper and when she was done she had written seven pages. She massaged her hand, writing so fast had given her cramp.   
She slowly closed the diary, put it back in its rightful place, behind a broken planc in her bed. Then she headed towards the shower desperate to get some clean clothes on.  
  
*****************  
  
Chandler sighed out in relief when he got into his office. All the way there he had had the strange feeling that people were staring at him and he had no idea why. Then he saw Marc sitting in the guest chair looking at him seriously. "What?" Chandler wondered as he went to sit down behind his desk.   
Marc didn't say anything, he just sat there and stared at him. Chandler rolled his eyes.   
"Ok what is up with the staring, all I saw on the way here was people staring at me! Come on, what is it?"   
Marc still said nothing but a smile grew wider and wider in his face.   
"You dog!" he said and smiled knowingly.   
Chandler just looked at him not sure he had heard him right.   
"What?"   
Marc got up from his seat, went over to Chandler and patted him on the back. "No need to explain man, I already know"   
"You know what?" Chandler was still clueless.   
"About you and Monica of course!" Marc yelled getting impatient.   
When Marc said 'him and Monica' Chandler broke the top of the pencil on the paper that he was writing. He looked up at Marc.   
"Huh?" was all he could get out.   
Marc sighed.   
"I know about you two!"   
Now Chandler was getting nervous.   
"What do you mean 'us two'? There is no 'us two' there is her then there is me, there is no 'us'!"   
"Well according to Peter there is"   
"Peter?"   
"You know, the cashier down at the store"   
Suddenly Chandler moaned.   
"Oh my god!"   
He got up and started walking around the room.   
Marc watched him, slightly amused.   
"You've got something you want to admit?" he wondered as he watched his friend walking back and forth.   
Chandler stopped walking for a while and turned to Marc.   
"Look, seriously nothing happened. We fell asleep watching the sunset, some guy or more likely Peter spotted us and wondered if we needed help to get off the ledge and I said no. When we came down my hair looked like crap so she fixed it, then we ALMOST kissed. But we didn't!!! That is the whole truth, I swear!"   
Marc looked a bit dissapointed but Chandler continiued.   
"Is that why people have been staring at me all the time, because they think I kissed Monica"   
Marc nodded and Chandler groaned.   
"Oh that's just great! Great, great, great..."   
For every 'great' he said he hit his head against the wall.   
"Ok if you keep the banging up you'll get a concusion" Marc warned him, this on the other hand made Chandler bang even harder.   
"Maybe then I'll wake up and this will never have happened" he replied dryly and stopped hitting his head. "Ok now I'm dizzy instead"   
Unsteadily went over to Marc and sunc down in his chair.   
  
*****************  
  
Monica entered her apartment and sat down at the kitchen table, she was exhausted. As soon as she had arrived at the resturant she was almost attacked with questions from Jamie. She calmly answered most of them but went around those that were too intimate. Now all she could think about was getting some sleep but just as she headed towards her bedroom, the phone rang.   
Her first thought was to ignore it but then she thought that it might be important. She decided to answer it.   
"Hello?" she said after she picked up the phone. "Oh hi! I'm... fine. You? What!? Really? Ok I'll be right there!"   
Monica hung up the phone and hurried towards the door. Then she came to think about something, picked up the phone again and started to dial.  
  
TO BE CONCLUDED... 


End file.
